The private life of Sherlock Holmes (movie)

[biscuitbear]

It's a 1970 movie by Billy Wilder (who also directed Some like it hot, one of my favorite). I'm barely 30 minutes in and laughing my socks off. Watson with a rose in his hair dancing Swan Lake with Russian ballet girls : priceless!

[Carol the Dabbler]

According to the Sherlock DVD commentaries, that movie is one of Moftiss's favorite Holmes adaptations. I haven't seen it, but I'm tempted to get the DVD one of these days.

[biscuitbear]

Now I've seen it, I can see cleear parallels between this and Sherlock, the most obvious one being with Scandal in Belgravia, but I won't say more if you haven't seen it yet.

[wildwoodflower]

It's a 1970 movie by Billy Wilder (who also directed Some like it hot, one of my favorite). I'm barely 30 minutes in and laughing my socks off. Watson with a rose in his hair dancing Swan Lake with Russian ballet girls : priceless!

 

Absolutely one of my favorites, as well as The Seven Percent Solution. I can definitely see how Moffatt would be inspired by this version of Holmes and Watson. In fact, the plot is very similar to Scandal in Belgravia now that I think on it!

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think they have snippets of this on Youtube, if not the whole movie. But I too will have to pop for the DVD someday.

[Alfie Ol' Chap]

I'm going to look for this on Netflix or AmazonPrime (streaming services). Wish me luck.

[Alfie Ol' Chap]

How wonderful. It's on Netflix Streaming.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Let us know what you think of it, Alfie!

 

We've got the DVD on order, and should have it by the end of this month (along with The Hobbit!).

[Alfie Ol' Chap]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I'm sure there are more studied Sherlock fans, I don't always like everything with the name slapped on. This was highly enjoyable though. The mystery had enough intrigue, the acting was solid, and the humor was well done. If I had to fault something it would be that they jammed a bunch of "Sherlock facts" into it a bit crudely, but it doesn't take away from things much, if at all.

 

 

 

If Sherlock did to me what he did to Watson with the ballet troupe, I'd have made him regret it.

 

 

 

I'd rewatch it with friends if asked, definitely.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Thanks for your review, Alfie! Sounds unlikely that we'll be disappointed by the DVD.

 

Note to others: That's a very minor spoiler -- if at all!

[Carol the Dabbler]

From Sherlockology:

 

 

 

BFI MEMBERS: Ticket ballot for a screening of The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes on 9th April with an introduction from Mark Gatiss. More info here.

 

"The magic of this film, I think, comes down to the writing of the dialogue by Wilder and his writing partner, Izzy Diamond. There are a number of conversations between Robert Stephens (Sherlock) and Colin Blakely (Watson) that are just like tiny symphonies. Every gag, every little annunciation or pause is poised perfectly and, watching it recently (it was a template of sorts for Stephen Moffat and me as we made our adaptation for the BBC) made me realise that Wilder and Diamond were among the best screenwriters in the world." - Mark Gatiss

 

[Pawse]

I think they have snippets of this on Youtube, if not the whole movie. But I too will have to pop for the DVD someday.

Ironically, I tried looking for the whole movie on YouTube and it doesn't seem to exist. I've seen a couple of clips though.

[Pawse]

I'm in the process of buying this.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Let us know what you think of it!

 

[Pawse]

Will do - might take a few days!

[softmachine]

Christopher Lee is brilliant in this isn't he?

 

I gather a lot of the stuffed-shirts of Sherlock Holmes fandom at the time hated it, how anyone can hate this very charming and very funny (and very affectionate) film version is beyond me!

 

(and I love the saucy looks the ballet boys give Watson *lol)

[joanneta1]

I don't know how many of us have actually watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, but I got it through Amazon after watching a BFI interwiew of Mr. Gatiss enthusing about it, and my belief in the whole Sherlock concept was profoundly shaken! HOW can someone as intelligent as he is (vid. his numerous deduction tours de force, like in the Great Game and The Hounds of Baskerville) actually admire such a mediocre piece of writing and acting? Sure, some of the things in there were lifted for the modern version, but it is such a poor incarnation of what he and Mr Moffat have repeatedly claimed to be an ongoing love affair with the Sherlock Holmes stories! Apart from the whole Ilse Von Hoffmanstal/Irene Adler ending, which Mr Moffat blessedly changed, it is an extremely disappointing approach to the greatest detective in the world, with the exception of Christopher Lee as Mycroft. If Mr Gatiss things this is genuine Sherlock territory, one might start wondering about his whole perception of the character. I sincerely do hope and trust that his contributions in the future will not be informed by such a lame adaptation. Anyway, what should we expect from the director who, according to David Niven, called "bring on the empty horses" when filming a Western?

Edited January 12, 2015 by Carol the Dabbler
Moved here from another thread

[Carol the Dabbler]

Private Life is pretty farcical in spots, so I can see why you might not consider it a legitimate adaptation of Conan Doyle's stories.  And with it being more frequently tongue in cheek than Sherlock, it's not really possible to compare them directly (or to borrow anything intact).  But while I don't share Moftiss's vast enthusiasm for the movie, I personally don't think it's bad.  Not entirely my cup of tea, but not bad.

 

And apparently it wasn't entirely Billy Wilder's cup of tea either, since his cut of the movie was reportedly hacked to bits by the studio.

 

[Arcadia]

Billy Wilder is definitely an acquired taste, and I suspect his humor appeals more to men than to women, judging from the critics response to his work. I only find him mildly amusing myself, less so as time goes on (as is so often true with comedy anyway).

 

I've seen this movie, but it's been decades ... I need to find time to watch it again, see what's got Moftiss all excited about it.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Billy Wilder is definitely an acquired taste, and I suspect his humor appeals more to men than to women....

 

... or maybe it appeals more to boys than to girls -- which could explain his appeal to Moftiss!  :D

[Arcadia]

Oh, of course! I stand corrected! :D

[sfmpco]

Just saw this movie today via Youtube, as someone uploaded the whole movie - albeit an extremely poor copy of the move (huge cloudy spot in the middle all the way through the film)

 

There's a very obvious ASIB lift from the film, but even in the first 10 minutes, so many lines were rolled off that I've heard in SHERLOCK... don't ask me to quote them... that I wonder if the movie was quoting original material and SHERLOCK then re-parroting it, or was it original to the movie and SHERLOCK was just  lifting some of it.  I guess I won't know until I finish reading the entire ACD canon...

[sfmpco]

This movie also has the mention that Sherlock is a "graduate chemist" - although I still don't know if that means he's just had a basic 4-yr university degree or has a masters degree.

[Arcadia]

Just saw this movie today via Youtube, as someone uploaded the whole movie - albeit an extremely poor copy of the move (huge cloudy spot in the middle all the way through the film)

 

There's a very obvious ASIB lift from the film, but even in the first 10 minutes, so many lines were rolled off that I've heard in SHERLOCK... don't ask me to quote them... that I wonder if the movie was quoting original material and SHERLOCK then re-parroting it, or was it original to the movie and SHERLOCK was just  lifting some of it.  I guess I won't know until I finish reading the entire ACD canon...

Ha, I asked that very same question on another thread! Any ACD enthusiasts out there know the answer?

[joanneta1]

Dear sfmpco, back in those days, if you finished university, (bless both of them, as Sir Humphrey Appleby would say), you automatically got a Master's degree after two years if you had not become a Fellow. So, Sherlock is a graduate chemist in ACD canon and the Granada series, but he is old enough even in the modernised version to have got that automatic conferral just for having studied at Oxford, blast it for the rest of us red-brick graduates, who had to study hard for an MA or whatever!